AJM: We demand fair and effective trial for Bozinovski

SEEmediaobservatory

Fri, 2016-09-16 14:04

Journalist Zoran Bozinovski has been spending almost four months in detention in Skopje, Macedonia, after his extradition from Serbia where he had spent another 18 months detained. Bozinovski’s detention in Macedonia has been extended three times by now.

Naser Selmani, president of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) gives a statement for SEE Media Observatory, claiming that this case is an obvious example of state-imposed limits to media freedom in Macedonia.

Selmani points out that Bozinovski is in jail not because of actions related to his professional work, but because he is one of the suspects in the case “Spion” (Spy) in which around 20 people were accused for espionage and criminal association.

AJM considers that the case against Bozinovski is politically construed by the Government, with the intention to silence a journalist who has the courage to publish affairs in which the Government is involved, before the parliamentary elections scheduled for December. These claims by AJM, adds Selmani, are based on series of omissions in the legal proceeding, including unjustifiably prolonged detention.

AJM demands the court to abolish the detention and to provide fair and effective trial for Bozinovski.

Note: video statement is in Macedonian language, with English subtitles.